This crop circle appeared on July 4th, 2008
It is reminiscent of all the others that came before it -
like we are being reminded once again
of what is coming

Note from Dee: Richard Boylan sent out a notice about an incoming asteroid. This one does not have a number attached to it, so it is not a government/scientific known object.

7-29-08 -

ALERT FROM DR. RICHARD BOYLAN: ASTEROID ON COLLISION COURSE WITH EARTH

Posted By: RumorMail
Date: Sunday, 27 July 2008, 5:21 p.m.

[DrRichBoylanReports] A Special Report: Incoming!

A Special Report: Incoming!

Friends,

The information I am about to share can be disturbing. Do not jump out an upper story window or sell all your stocks. Please read this report to the very end before drawing any conclusions about an appropriate response.

This information is derived from the Zeta and other Star Visitors who have been remote-viewing Earth’s very near future.

Their remote-viewing results were relayed to a Native American friend of mine during a special close encounter briefing. I assisted this Native American woman to recall every detail via hypnotic regression. The accuracy of the details was later corroborated to me by Star Nations. Additionally three other Star Seeds received the same future vision.

There is no gentle way to say this so I will just lay it out.

There is an asteroid headed on a collision course with Earth. It is 8/10 of a mile long and 6/10 of a mile wide (1.4 km long by 1 km wide).

On its current course it is due to impact in the North Atlantic this year at about 2:30-3:00 pm. EDT on November 15, 2008.

The location of the impact zone is in the ocean at 36 degrees North Latitude and 65 degrees West Longitude, (approximately 100 miles north of Bermuda and 750 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, [on the U.S. southeast coast].)

When the asteroid enters Earth’s atmosphere, it will be seen as a large bright-green bolide. Atmospheric friction will create an enormous dark reddish-orange glow in the air that will be visible across eastern North America, such that a thousand miles away from the Impact Zone, a reddish glow will backlight even the Toronto skyline in Canada. Indeed, from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Boston, Washington, DC, Miami, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Venezuela the glow will be visible.

When this bolide plunges into the perhaps 10,000-feet- deep ocean of the impact zone, it will create such a downward pressure wave as to cause a major earthquake felt on land. The Star Visitors told my Native American friend that people closer to the Impact Zone are only going to be safe if they are 15 or more feet underground (in a waterproof location).

It also suggests that there will be resultant tsunamis of Biblical proportions.

An available comparative model developed by two geologists on the BBC in order to measure effects of a volcanic eruption on La Palma Island in the Canary Islands chain northwest of Africa and its resultant earthquake [Day et al, 1999; Ward and Day, 2001], predicted that the volcano’s unstable western flank would fall into the ocean, creating a tidal wave a half-mile (900 meters) high at the Canary Islands, and would radiate out across the Atlantic and inundate the eastern seaboard of North America including the American, Caribbean and northern coasts of South America some six to eight hours later. They estimated that the tsunami, upon reaching the North American and Latin American coasts, would have waves possibly 300 feet (90 metres) or more high, causing massive devastation along the coastlines. Modeling suggests that the tsunami could inundate up to 15 miles (25 km) inland - depending upon topography.

But the asteroid which will arrive November 15 has an impact zone which is 2000 miles closer to the North American coastline than the Canary Islands. Therefore the resultant tidal wave would likely be much higher than 300 feet on the U.S.-Canadian- Caribbean American coast. That means that tsunamis much higher than 300 feet tall would crash on the shores of Halifax, N.S., Boston; New York City; Chesapeake Bay (Washington, DC); Norfolk, VA; Charleston, SC; Savannah, GA, Jacksonville, FL; Miami, FL; Cuba; Dominican Republic/Haiti; Puerto Rico; and Caracas, Venezuela. And would surge inland possibly more than 15 miles. Additionally, the Atlantic Coast of Europe and Africa is also likely at risk.

It is perhaps instructive that 35 million years ago another incoming asteroid, twice as big, impacted the U.S. coast near Norfolk, Virginia and created a crater 39 miles wide and 2/3 of a mile deep.

A remote-viewing psychic on my team saw that the Nov. 15 asteroid’s impact would create an extremely- powerful downward pressure wave that would precipitate the eruption of a massive volcano on the seabed floor which would grow to almost the ocean’s surface, causing weather and ocean navigation challenges.

Some within the U.S. military are already aware of this threat. My remote viewer saw that Cabal- controlled U.S. military would field a huge submersible sea vessel which would break up through the Arctic pack ice and surface to launch multiple long-range missiles into space in an attempt to break up this asteroid. But their efforts will be not precise, and they will make things worse by breaking up the huge asteroid into still-deadly gigantic parts, which then threaten an even wider section of Earth. The Cabal deliberately will use conventional warheads rather than nuclear ones in order to make sure that the asteroid reaches Earth in salvageable pieces, because its surface is made of a super-hard element unknown on Earth, and the Cabal want to gather that element to fashion impregnable weaponry. While a salvo of nuclear missiles might eliminate the asteroid threat, the Cabal are more interested in weapons superiority from the asteroid mineral than how many people on the ground would die from asteroid pieces.

As this grim picture was presented, I determined that the situation was beyond human capacity to remedy by ourselves in the time available. I therefore made a formal request to Star Nations’ Council (as Councillor of Earth) to intervene to deflect this asteroid from its foreseen impact course.

This request was agreed to by Star Nations with the proviso that Humans had to ger involved too in the project to deflect this asteroid.

And so it was decided that Humans would engage in a Joint Psychic Project to utilize our collective telekinetic abilities to exert together to deflect this asteroid from its collision course with Earth. And Star Nations will join with us, utilizing both their telekinetic powers, and any necessary advanced technology, to redirect this asteroid safely away from Earth.

Everyone who reads this report therefore is invited to join in an upcoming special Joint Psychic Exercise on November 15, time TBA, most likely around 1:30 p.m., PST, (4:30 pm, EST), to unite in exercise of telekinetic powers to redirect this asteroid safely away from Earth before it travels into our atmosphere.

Be watching on my website or emailing lists for an update and further details on this most important project as we get closer to November 15th.

And recognize that through this Joint Exercise we are entering yet more deeply into a collaborative Human-Star Nations effort to help make sure that Humankind makes it to that future point where we have advanced enough to be admitted into cosmic citizenship as the newest inhabited planet to achieve an advanced state of civilization.

Thank you.

in the light,

Richard Boylan, Ph.D.

Richard Boylan, Ph.D., LLC, Councillor President, Star Kids Project, Ltd Email: drboylan@sbcglobal. net Website: www.drboylan. com

The Mandelbrot spirals and the new crop formation appear to show depth, as if spiraling downward or upward.
I got the same feeling from the ratchet formation that appeared around 17 April 2005 at Ripley –

This has sparked fears over the possibility that it could collide with the Earth.

Mr Worawit, an executive member of the Thai Astronomical Society, said the asteroid will come within about 34,400 kilometres of the Earth on April 13, 2029.

He cited a report released by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa).

On that day, the asteroid will make its closest approach to the Earth, about eleven times closer than the moon will pass by _ for the first time in 1,000 years, according to Mr Worawit.

The astronomer said the asteroid's visit on that day will provide a basis for calculations about whether it could hit the Earth in the future.

The same asteroid is predicted to pass by the Earth again on April 13, 2036 and it will be even closer then, Mr Worawit said, citing the Nasa report.

He said the calculations will determine whether the asteroid would be on a collision course with the Earth in 2036 or not. ''If it struck the Earth on that day (April 13, 2036), the possible target would be the northern part of Mexico.

''The impact of the collision would be like the power of 870 megatonnes of TNT going off,'' Mr Worawit said.

Mr Worawit said 99942 Apophis is 320 metres in diameter, and orbits the sun every 323 days.

On April 13, 2029, the asteroid will come into view at dusk at a 42-degree angle in the western sky in the constellation Cancer, Mr Worawit said.

It will be able to be observed in the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Thailand.

The 99942 Apophis asteroid was discovered in June 2004. It was then called 2004 MN4.

Kassel, Hessen, Germany crop circle reported June 26, 1999. If that doesn't depict the Earth being slammed by asteroids I'll eat my hat! Noting that 4 major planets will be involved in the Grand Cross, while Pluto and its two minor asteroids won't.

Amazingly it seems as if this formation appeared in full daylight and within a perfect view to the nearby road. Local CC-researcher W.Schöppe is sure that it was not present at 8.00am on June 26, 1999. the formation was discovered the same day just eight hours later at 4.00pm by CC-researcher E.Weber.

On June 26, 1999, a second formation was discovered in a field of rye between Ehelen and Breitenbach in Hessen. The formation consist of a huge spiral made of a meandering path created by numerous connected semi-rings - very similar to the style of the outer ring in the formation at Dorla - and with several circles in the standing crop between the flattened spiral-paths. The hosting field is positioned just next to the field that hosted the beautiful double-spiral from last year. The description sounds as if the aerial will provide an again a major formation.

On June 26, 1999, local CC-researcher Wolfgang Schöppe discovered a huge formation in a field of wheat next to the motorway A44 (but not visible from it ) at Ehlen in Hessen. It is very hard to describe what the formation look like without giving an aerial or diagram. Basically it is a huge ring with a semi set of four nested crescents, creating a claw.like feature. the whole thing is surrounded by several (7 ) smaller circles. The overall look reminds me of something like a phoenix or insectoid-larva coming out of an circular egg. main body's axis is 68 m long and the overall size of the formation must be next to 100 m ( 330' ). A survey and photos, including aerial were taken - to be updated soon as possible.

Editor's note: To me, this looks like the Sun, earth, and moon and two other space satellites of some kind, with 4 comets and their trails slamming into the sun.

FGK-PROJECT "RECONSTRUCTION" (99/06)

Short summary of the previous history
For years the complete executive chairman-board of the "German Association For Crop Circle Research (Forschungsgesellschaft Kornkreise e.V. - FGK)"
(Note: This site - www.kornkreise-forschung.de / www.cropcirclescience.org is no member of the FGK) consisted of people that - secretly - preferred to make/hoax crop circles instead of researching the phenomenon to test their own members and Non-FGK researchers. Later they used their self-proclaimed "socio-psychological" projects to debunk and discredit other researchers as well as the FGK itself. After many years this secret behaviour came to surface and bit by bit that chairmen and -women left the FGK.

In 2006 the latest "secret-hoaxer"-chairman was revealed and stepped back from all of his positions within the FGK.

To test his claims, that he alone was responsible for some crop circle formations in the Kassel-area in the past, the FGK created "Project Reconstruction" in which this former chairman should demonstrate his skills, reproducing a formation of 1999 at night.

The FGK-Homepage informs:
"Under the lead of researcher Eckhard Weber and in full agreement with farmer Dieter Fröhlich the FGK commissioned the experimental making of a crop circle formation in a field of wheat just outside the village of Dörnberg (near Kassel in Hessen). The ambition of this experiment was the to have an object for comparison in questions of quality and design, and the question if - as claimed - a single person would be able to create a formation like the 1999er spiral formation at night. (...) The whole process was observed and documented by observing FGK-members.

Both, the farmer for his loss in crop as well as the maker of the crop circle were paid for their service. The farmer gave a general permission to enter the field and formation. (...)"

The Result
The diameter of the new spiral measured ca. 63 meters, the uncoiled spiral-path would have measured a length of 400 meters and was "decorated" with 215 small and wave-like placed semi-circles. A small dolphin-like formation of 23 meters length was made in a distance of about 30 meters in the same field.

The creation of the spiral-formation took 2 hours, beginning at 10:45pm - 00:45am.
The "Dolphin" was made in 30-45 minutes.
Both formations were made by a single person who used poles, ropes and the classical "stomper" for the flattening of the crop.

The used technique to create the wave-like spiral in 2006 is based on a previously marked spiral-path that was decorated on each side with semi-circles shifted for half a radius each:

x

Fig. 1: How the "wave" pattern was constructed in 2006.
Graphic: Andreas Müller

TAKEN FROM: http://www.kornkreise-forschung.de/textFGKRekonstruktion06.htm

'As above, So below'. As millions of people around the world received news that for first time in human history an 'Earth killing' Comet would be witnessed impacting a neighboring planet, sequential events mirroring those in space began to appear in the crop fields of Wiltshire and Hampshire in 1994.

Months later, in the 1994 November issue of Astronomy Magazine, a dramatic image of Jupiter showing the impact effect of the largest Comet fragment: the 'G-Impact' was discovered by Kris to bear an amazing resemblance to the Roundway Crop Circle formation. In addition to impact 'crescents' the 1994 Roundway Crop Circle formation and Shoemaker/Levy 9 Comet G-Impact also shared another detail in common: a small side circle!

Rotated circles and crescents defined and differentiated the 1994 pictogram from the exact G-Impact image, but amazingly revealed yet another possible related layer of meaning to the formation. Perturbing and consuming the orbiting motion of asteroids, and Comets, including the Shoemaker/Levy 9 Comet, the Sun and Jupiter are locked in an oscillating cycle known to astronomers as the 'Solar Oscillation', or 'Jupiter Effect'. Basically, the Solar Oscillation is the oscillating motion of the Sun through the 'Milky Way Galaxy', caused by the 'alternating pattern of conjunctions and oppositions' between the ever changing orbiting movements and positions of the more massive planets in our solar system, particularly Jupiter. This cycle, I learned and began disseminating in Autumn 1991 is, I think, a major aspect of the physics of most non-manmade Crop Circle creation, and could explain why at Roundway in 1994 the 'impact crescents' were rotated. Turned 90 degrees, three times, they reflected, in my view, the fundamental force of rotation: angular momentum, and by inference its counterpart: gravity; the two Cosmic forces that ultimately sent the Shoemaker/Levy 9 Comet fragments crashing into Jupiter!

The original "Vulcan, Comets and the Impending Catastrophe" paper indicates that Earth is periodically vulnerable to meteors/comets swarm strikes every 1,677 years.1 Long period comets, offering little warning time, may have struck Earth 5,000 and 11,600 years ago causing Noah's flood and our current interglacial period respectively. A similar event may soon happen again.

One strike date source is from "crop circle" T367 known as "The Solar System". It was formed at Cheesefoot Head (on the old Longwood estate), England on 26 June 1995.2 Popular lore associates crop circles with extra-terrestrial aliens and UFOs even though humans (Doug and Dave) have admitted making them by stomping down crops using a rope, bar and center stake. But the Vulcan paper's authors seemingly accept an alien presence since they consider Vulcan to be present on the Hill star map derived from alien contact (Figures 3 and 4). They have patented an (AAD) Aerodynamic Augmentation Device (#5,797,563) based on reported UFO data.3 It explains how both UFO related RF radiation,4 as intercepted at exactly 3.0 GHz by an RB 47 aircraft, and UFO associated magnetic fields5are employed to ease the passage of saucers, or any aircraft, through the atmosphere. Saucers have been video taped at speeds of 3,000+ mph with this radiation heating air and making it appear white (as is characteristic of solar furnaces focused on small regions of the atmosphere).6 Twenty times the intercepted RF's value falls exactly in an oxygen absorption band (60 GHz), producing ionized air.7 See Figure 1A. Tripling this RF, postulated to be used on alien saucers, produces a RF exactly in the middle of the second water absorption band (180 GHz). Beams transmitted at these RFs (even from the same antennae8 could heat the stalks, briefly softening them as if they had been steamed, and cause them to fall in a crop circle image.9

While most crop circle messages are likely meaningless, the finely carved crop circle T367 is an exception.10 See Figure 2A. It was quickly identified as a depiction of our solar system's inner planets and their orbits. Mercury, Venus, Mars and the asteroid belt are present, but Earth was missing from its orbit. Small white spots, called "grape shot", were also present.

Vulcan's orbit would initiate two comet swarms in a resonant orbit, each with a nominal 3,353-year period. See the Vulcan paper's "Impending Comet Strike" section. It is postulated that extra-terrestrials would be keenly aware of Vulcan. They could use this distant planet to slow their spaceships' trajectory as they settle into an orbit within our solar system or sling-shot" their spacecraft out of our system when they leave. Precise knowledge of Vulcan's mass and orbit would be required for this maneuver. This, combined with the localization of a comet swarm headed toward the inner solar system by debris detection gear already postulated to be used by their spaceships,11 would permit them to precisely know when the Earth would be at risk. This theory is supported by ten substantial abduction cases wherein aliens have warned abductees of an impending catastrophe. Six of these warnings indicated impending meteor or comet impacts.12

Figure 2A. Crop Circle T367, The Solar System. Notice White Spots (grapeshot) In The Upper Image. Mercury's Perihelion (77.2 degrees Heliocentric Longitude) Is Nominally Placed; X For The 2007 Strike And Y For The 2033/2039/2101 Strike.

The Earth's Heliocentric/ Sun's Geocentric/ Moon's Geocentric Longitude Are As Follows:

Comet Event 1: 02/25/07, Other Comets At Heliocentric Longitudes: 2: 103.0 degrees; 3: 139 degrees; 4: 161.5 degrees; 5: 195.0 degrees

An alien warning is exactly what is depicted by T367. The planets are disproportionately large but the orbits are to scale. The "small white spots" (four objects, one broken in two - totaling five) called grapeshot are depictions of meteors or comets. The "missing" Earth (its orbit is still depicted) signifies its devastation by the anticipated strikes. The relative locations of the planets and the precise location of their orbit's perihelia define the date of this future event to within a few days. Dr. Robert H. Hadley, Prof. Hawkins and this work have analyzed this crop circle in detail.13 Prof. Hawkins has come up with three future dates represented by this alignment. See Table 1A. Hawkins measurements have been re- analyzed and only slightly different results found.

@Prof. Forbe's Analysis
#This Analysis (Vulcan's Location Pinpoints The Planets Heliocentric Longitude)With Vulcan aligned Vulcan at 262.5 degrees.
*Heliocentric Longitude in Degrees

Dr. Hadley's analysis concludes that someone created this crop circle with precise knowledge of our solar system and with a skill that permitted it to be formed at an unusual hillside angle. Table 2A below compares the orbital radii (in Astronomical Units = AU) and eccentrics of the image in T367 compared to the actual values (n.c. = not calculated)

This crop circle has another unusual feature; an off-center cleared circle containing the inner planets' orbits. Assuming this circle defines the centroid of the Sun-Vulcan complex, then it is in the direction of Vulcan as of either the date the T367 crop circle was formed or the date represented by the configuration of the planets contained therein. As Vulcan is near aphelion, both these values of its heliocentric longitude are nearly identical.

The analysis, presented in this work, first electronically manipulated the crop circle image with word processing algorithms until the cleared circle inside the asteroid belt was circular. See Figure 2A. The center of the circle is defined by the cross hairs added to the T367 image. The miss-alignment between the centroid and the Sun is presumed caused by the Sun-Vulcan center of mass. It was found to be offset about 0.35 Earth Orbit radius from the Sun. Vulcan's heliocentric longitude is 262.5 deg. on 02/25/2007. Heliocentric longitudes of the planets were measured from this alignment and are different from Hawkins analysis by about 30 deg. See X and Y on Figure 2A. Table 1A lists the only solution found between 1998 and 2048 given the uncertainty introduced from T367's planets diameter. The "grapeshot" heliocentric longitudes are listed with Figure 2A.

T367 is interpreted as follows: The grapeshot represents the incoming comet swarm originating from their resonant orbit position in Vulcan's orbit. The configuration of the inner planets represents a date when we are (first?) at risk of a comet or meteor impact (or near miss). The grapeshot indicates how many comets threaten Earth. Will anybody listen? The appearance of the comets will get our attention, but by then it would be too late to take effective action.

*5,000/A 4,998 Noah's flood (Samaritan Pent.)
**10,000/B 10,550 Mini Ice Age Ends
**11,670/A# 11,560 Atlantis ends; high seas
" 11,564 Megafauna extinction
" 12,000 Allerod Warm Age Begins
13,330/B# Cold/Warm transition in decades
15,000/A Pruvial Lake Maximum
20,000/B Coldest time in the Ice Age
25,000/A 25,000 Atlantis starts, low seas
30,000/B Neanderthals Disappear
35,000/A 34/35,000, Mu starts/Lunar cal.
40,000/B 40,000 Cold age starts
45,000/A 45,000 Warm age starts
50,000/B No Strike? Very Cold
55,000/A 57,824 Dawn Of Mankind
125,000/A Last Interglacial Period

Freddy Silva states: Does this represent the sun and planets? The orbits are exact circles with slighly different centers and diameters of 0.5, 0.7, 1.4, and 2.6. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and the Asteroids have actual values of 0.4, 0.7, 1.5, and 2.8 --a pretty good fit. If so the nearest date indicated is 11 July 1971. One of the next dates is 30 August 2033, years away because we have to match the motion of three planets, Mercury, Venus, and Mars. By computer graphic measurement the Asteroid circle and the edge-circle beyond Mars give a diatonic ratio of 9/4, note D in the second octave. (See CPRI Newsletter, Autumn/Winter 1995/1996, and 1996/1997).

In astronomy, angles are measured counterclockwise from the over-size Sun at the center. The closest approach of Mercury to the Sun (perihelion) is at 75 degrees, and the angles for Mercury, Venus, and Mars are 189 degrees, 76 degrees and 303 degrees. The Asteroid belt is symbolic and does not give the position of any Asteroid in its orbit.

There are some interesting accounts of a Tongva hero by the name of 'Chingichnish',a spiritual leader said to have appeared hundreds of years ago to teach people how to live in harmony with 'Nocuma' (the Great Spirit). He said that Nocuma would give three warnings to people who failed to respect the land, beyond that nature would take its course. This is the third crop circle formation to appear in California and appeared at a site where there has been considerable local protest against the toll road construction, making a wide path through the last small piece of remaining wilderness of Laguna Canyon. Another coincidence? We don't think so.

Its timing to the appearance in the mid March sky of the Comet Hyakutake is interesting, which was most visible on the 25th of March from Southern California.In 1995 in England we had crop circles in the form of our Solar System, depicting the sun, planets, orbits and the Asteroid Belt. In 1994 we had the Shoemaker/LevyComet ('The String of Pearls') crashing into Jupiter formations. It is interesting to see how past and present themes run together. At Laguna Canyon, like in Hampshire 1995, we had many circles forming a ring around a common center. We have a continuation of theme, Asteroids/Comet , planets and orbits. Scientists warn usabout Asteroids colliding with Earth. One of the 'Asteroid Belt' Crop formations of 1995 depicted the Earth missing from its orbit. We showed a photograph of the Laguna Canyon formation to a Chumash Elder who instantly recognized it from his own peoples rock art. After looking at the spoked glyph he said, "Something within us is bringing destruction from out there'' in space. Could this be the meaning behind theLaguna Canyon formation? Could it be a warning, that we need to change, or change will be brought to us?

The Laguna Canyon crop circle formation was the first genuine formation of 1996, to appear in the Northern Hemisphere, truly embodying the now familiar characteristics of a genuine phenomena.

To conclude we would like to share some information concerning the possible meaning behind this intriguing formation, that is very Native American looking in its design.We have discovered that the indigenous people of the area, the Gabrielino or Tongva,and their friendly northern neighbours the Chumash, both have rock art (petroglyphs) and a sacred object known as a 'Sun Staff' that are strikingly similar to the three glyphs. The sun staff is a steatite stone surmounted on a stick often incised with rays or geometric designs representing the declination of the sun, or the cardinal points of the Gabrielino compass. Chumash shamans used these sun staffs in their all-important solstice ceremony, were the shaman would tap the stone three times and then symbolically pull the sun back in a northward direction, signifying the end of winterand the beginning of the suns return. Suspecting the "spoked glyph" to represent asun staff we measured the angles of the 14 spokes and discovered a spoke aligned to each of the following: Winter Solstice Sunrise, Winter Solstice Sunset, and Summer Solstice Sunrise.

A possible correlation of interest was the timing and design of the Laguna Canyon pictogram to the appearance of Comet ‘Hyakutake’, in the mid-March sky, a comet that was most visible from Southern California on March 25th 1996. During the previous summer in Hampshire England, two crop circle formations in particular seemed to depict our solar system, with circles representing the sun, neighboring planets, their orbits, and the ‘Asteroid Belt’. In 1994 the ‘Shoemaker-Levy 9’ Comet crashed into Jupiter and was also depicted in a series of formations. It was interesting to see how consecutive years formations and themes ran together. At Laguna Canyon, like in England in 1995, many circles, in the form of rings attached to spokes, formed a ‘ring’, not unlike a variation on the theme of an asteroid belt, around a common center.

Since the impact of the Shoemaker/Levy 9 comet event 1994 a great many people have become a lot more aware of the warnings of scientists and astronomers, particularly through films and television documentaries, about the very real danger posed by large Earth colliding asteroids and comets. In the crop fields in England in 1995, one of the Hampshire ‘Asteroid Belt’ looking crop circle formations even depicted the Earth ‘missing’ from its orbit. Seeing a connection in the design of this formation, and an earlier one that appeared near Alresford in Hampshire on June 18th 1995, to the Laguna Canyon pictogram, we showed a photograph of the latter formation to a Chumash Elder at a local native American gathering, to see if he could identify the pictogram symbols. Not sharing what we had learned first he instantly confirmed that he recognized the formation from his own peoples’ rock art. After looking at the spoked glyph he pointed to the unattached circle between two of the spokes and said “Something within us is bringing destruction from out there” as he pointed up into space. Could this be one of the meanings of the Laguna Canyon formation? Could it be a warning that we need to change, or change will be brought to us?

Monday, 29 July, 2002, 11:51 GMT 12:51 UK

Asteroid to miss - this time around 2002 NT7, Courtesy Klet Observatory

It has been called the most threatening object in space


By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor

Astronomers have ruled out an Earth impact from asteroid 2002 NT7 on 1 February 2019 - but they say, as yet, future collisions have not been completely excluded.

2002 NT7, a two-kilometre-wide (1.4 miles) chunk of rock, was discovered on 9 July. Initial estimates of its orbit suggested there was a small chance of it colliding with our planet in 17 years' time.

However, the latest observations accumulated over the last few days have confirmed the asteroid will fly harmlessly by.

Dr Don Yeomans, of the US space agency's (Nasa) Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said: "We can now rule out any impact possibilities for 1 February 2019."

Uncharted space

But further work needs to be done to confirm that 2002 NT7 is not a threat further into the future.

Dr Yeomans added: "While we cannot completely rule out an impact possibility for 1 February 2060, it seems very likely that this possibility will soon be ruled out as well."

Analysts expect that it will be several more weeks before new observations allow a much better picture to emerge about 2002 NT7's future movements.

This is because no past observations - that could be used to pinpoint its trajectory - have been found in astronomical archives. This is because the asteroid's unusual orbit takes it into regions of space that are seldom surveyed.

But astronomers say that their concern about 2002 NT7 has not evaporated completely.

Media debate

According to Dr Benny Peiser, of Liverpool John Moores University, UK, we should not be celebrating too quickly.

"It would be prudent to caution interested observers that further observations in the near future could result in new impact dates," he told BBC News Online.

"There is even a very small possibility that the next set of observations may lead to new impact dates and a prolonged period of fluctuating impact probabilities, before the object will eventually be dropped," he said.

The intense worldwide interest in 2002 NT7 has prompted a debate in the astronomical community.

Following the object's discovery, and the realisation that it could strike the Earth in 2019, astronomers decided to make no announcement whilst they monitored the situation.

Some astronomers have been unhappy with what they see as alarmist reporting in the media, and they say that the policy on public disclosure of such information should be reviewed.

Asteroid ahoy: flight of the Falcon

Peter Bond in London

Nov. 16, 2005. — Planetary scientists around the world are watching enthralled as a dramatic saga unfolds in the depths of space. More than 180 million miles from Earth, a small, relatively inexpensive Japanese spacecraft named Hayabusa, or Falcon, is attempting to make history by capturing samples of a tiny asteroid.

In a $170m mission, Hayabusa is designed to become the first craft to touch down on an asteroid, seize some fragments and bring them back to Earth. However, such milestones are rarely achieved without a few nerve-racking moments.

On 4 November, an unexpected “anomalous signal” brought the dress rehearsal to a sudden halt. A second dry-run on Saturday was rated a success — although a small lander, Minerva, failed to reach its target, raising questions about whether the Falcon has bitten off more than it can chew. So what is Hayabusa doing up there? Samples of cosmic material are not too hard to find.

Since time immemorial, people have been picking up meteorites that have fallen from the sky. Most are unremarkable chunks of stone or metal, although some of the rarer examples contain organic compounds, water and tiny diamonds. In recent years, a few dozen specimens that originated on the Moon and Mars have also been recognised.

Unfortunately, although the ages and compositions of these meteorites can be measured, there is no way to determine their precise source regions on the Moon and Mars. They all seem to be leftovers, billions of years old, from the formation of the planets. Most of them are thought to be fragments of larger, rocky bodies — asteroids — that have been chipped away during innumerable collisions. But there is no solid proof that this is the case.

The importance of the Hayabusa mission lies in its potential to examine a particular asteroid from close range and then bring back pieces for analysis in terrestrial laboratories.

Hayabusa is expected to stay at the asteroid until early December, when its ion engine will fire once more to send the spacecraft on a leisurely homeward journey.

— The Independent

Japanese space probe nears landing attempt on asteroid

Japan landing on an asteroid and bring pieces of it back to earth.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Shigeo Nagashima, Steven Spielberg and thousands of others are set to have their names left on an asteroid this weekend as a Japanese space probe nears its landing attempt2

Hayabusa, a space probe launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, was to attempt to land on the asteroid Itokawa sometime between late Saturday and early Sunday. The probe is to collect rock samples from the asteroid.

Live pictures of JAXA's operations center in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, will be broadcast via the agency's Web site (http://jaxa.tv) during the expected time of the landing.

To mark the landing, Hayabusa will drop a 10-centimeter metal ball that contains the names of 880,000 people from 149 countries. The names, which are written in the people's native languages, are of respondents to a worldwide offer made by the agency three years ago.

Along with the names of the lifetime honorary manager of the Yomiuri Giants and the U.S. film director, comic artist Reiji Matsumoto and actor Paul Newman also are listed. A special technique used in semiconductor manufacturing was used to engrave the names on aluminum foil in the metal ball.

It is the second attempt to bring rocks back from any celestial body other than Earth, following the moon rock brought back under the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Apollo program. This time, the samples will be taken from an asteroid located much further away than the moon.

Nagashima said he was excited to witness the climax of the spacecraft's magnificent journey.

"It [Hayabusa's mission] is a great undertaking in the history of space research and development, and it could become equally important as the Apollo program," he said.

( Nov. 20, 2005 )

Japan asteroid probe makes history

Nov. 27, 2005

TOKYO: A Japanese space probe made history on Saturday when it landed on an asteroid nearly 300 million km from Earth and collected rock samples that could give clues to the origin of the solar system.

The probe, called Hayabusa—Japanese for “falcon”—succeeded in its second attempt in a task which scientists have likened to landing a jumbo jet in a moving Grand Canyon.

“I am delighted to hear that it has collected the samples. It is the world’s first such feat,” Science and Technology Minister Iwao Matsuda said. —Reuters

This view of the asteroid Itokawa was captured by Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft on Saturday from a distance of about 1,640 feet (500 meters). The probe's shadow can be seen as a dark mark on the asteroid's surface.

TOKYO - A Japanese spacecraft showed signs of trouble Saturday after apparently landing on an asteroid and collecting surface samples in an unprecedented mission to bring the extraterrestrial material back to Earth, officials said.

The Hayabusa probe, hovering about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the asteroid, appeared to be shaking due to a possible gas leak from a thruster, said Atsushi Akoh, a spokesman for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA.

JAXA will put Hayabusa into "safety mode" — which stabilizes the probe by turning its solar panels toward the sun — for two to three days to investigate, Akoh said.

Probe lands on asteroid and collects samples

Hayabusa spacecraft gets ready for return to Earth after two touchdowns

Updated: 12:46 p.m. ET Nov. 26, 2005

TOKYO - A Japanese space probe made history on Saturday when it landed on the surface of an asteroid and then collected rock samples that could give clues to the origin of the solar system.

The probe, called Hayabusa — Japanese for "falcon" — succeeded in the delicate task, which scientists likened to landing a jumbo jet in a moving Grand Canyon. It was its second and final attempt.

After analyzing data transmitted from the unmanned probe, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said Hayabusa had touched down on the asteroid, nearly 190 million miles (300 million kilometers) from Earth.

The probe then shot a 0.18-ounce (5-gram) metal ball towards the surface at a speed of 670 mph (1,080 kilometers per hour), collecting into a capsule the debris unleashed as a result of the impact, JAXA officials said.

"I am delighted to hear that it has collected the samples. It is the world's first such feat and it will contribute greatly to mankind's exploration of space," Science and Technology Minister Iwao Matsuda said in a statement.

The United States and the former Soviet Union have brought back samples from the moon in the past, but this is the first time that surface material from an asteroid has been collected.

JAXA scientists at the main space control center in western Tokyo smiled and let out cheers after confirming the successful landing.

Japan's space program has had a shaky record and has recently been overshadowed by China's success in carrying out manned spaceflights — something Japan has never attempted.

Last Sunday, after a voyage of two and a half years, Hayabusa made its first touchdown on the surface of the 1,798-foot-long (548-meter-long) potato-shaped asteroid, named Itokawa.

It remained there for 30 minutes, but had failed to drop the equipment for collecting surface material.

JAXA officials had said Saturday's attempt would be the final one, as Hayabusa did not have enough fuel for another attempt and would have to head back to Earth.

The probe's capsule containing the samples is due to land in the Australian outback in June 2007.

Asteroids are believed to contain rocks that have remained largely unchanged since the early days of the solar system and could thus offer valuable information about its origins. Information about their structure could also be vital if an asteroid were found to be on a collision course with the earth.

The asteroid is named after pioneering Japanese rocket scientist Hideo Itokawa.

Japanese space probe may have failed to gather asteroid dust

Last Updated Wed, 07 Dec 2005 18:29:51 EST

CBC News

A Japanese probe was likely unable to collect the first dust samples from an asteroid, the country's space agency said Wednesday.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said the Hayabusa probe landed Tuesday on the potato-shaped asteroid called Itokawa. However, it may have failed to shoot a small metal ball into the surface to loosen the dust samples.

"We have not been able to confirm data that shows a projectile was normally discharged," the agency said in a statement on the Nov. 26 landing. "We have found out that there is a high possibility that the projectile was not discharged."

Artist's rendition of Hayabusa probe. (AP file photo/Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, HO)

There is still a "slight possibility" the landing kicked up enough dust to collect material, the agency added.

Scientists hoped the material would yield clues to the makeup of asteroids, information that could help if one is headed on a collision course with Earth.

Asteroids, unlike larger space bodies such as the moon, are believed to contain rocks that have remained largely unchanged since the early days of the solar system. Studying them would offer clues to the origins of the solar system.

Hayabusa is scheduled to return to Earth in mid-December, although it has a problem with one of its thrusters.

It's called Apophis. It's 390m wide. And it could hit Earth in 31 years time

Scientists call for plans to change asteroid's path Developing technology could take decades

Alok Jha
Wednesday December 7, 2005
The Guardian

Artist's impression of an asteroid heading for Earth. Photograph: Frank Whitney/Getty Images

In Egyptian myth, Apophis was the ancient spirit of evil and destruction, a demon that was determined to plunge the world into eternal darkness.

A fitting name, astronomers reasoned, for a menace now hurtling towards Earth from outerspace. Scientists are monitoring the progress of a 390-metre wide asteroid discovered last year that is potentially on a collision course with the planet, and are imploring governments to decide on a strategy for dealing with it.

Nasa has estimated that an impact from Apophis, which has an outside chance of hitting the Earth in 2036, would release more than 100,000 times the energy released in the nuclear blast over Hiroshima. Thousands of square kilometres would be directly affected by the blast but the whole of the Earth would see the effects of the dust released into the atmosphere.

And, scientists insist, there is actually very little time left to decide. At a recent meeting of experts in near-Earth objects (NEOs) in London, scientists said it could take decades to design, test and build the required technology to deflect the asteroid. Monica Grady, an expert in meteorites at the Open University, said: "It's a question of when, not if, a near Earth object collides with Earth. Many of the smaller objects break up when they reach the Earth's atmosphere and have no impact. However, a NEO larger than 1km [wide] will collide with Earth every few hundred thousand years and a NEO larger than 6km, which could cause mass extinction, will collide with Earth every hundred million years. We are overdue for a big one."

Apophis had been intermittently tracked since its discovery in June last year but, in December, it started causing serious concern. Projecting the orbit of the asteroid into the future, astronomers had calculated that the odds of it hitting the Earth in 2029 were alarming. As more observations came in, the odds got higher.

Having more than 20 years warning of potential impact might seem plenty of time. But, at last week's meeting, Andrea Carusi, president of the Spaceguard Foundation, said that the time for governments to make decisions on what to do was now, to give scientists time to prepare mitigation missions. At the peak of concern, Apophis asteroid was placed at four out of 10 on the Torino scale - a measure of the threat posed by an NEO where 10 is a certain collision which could cause a global catastrophe. This was the highest of any asteroid in recorded history and it had a 1 in 37 chance of hitting the Earth. The threat of a collision in 2029 was eventually ruled out at the end of last year.

Alan Fitzsimmons, an astronomer from Queen's University Belfast, said: "When it does pass close to us on April 13 2029, the Earth will deflect it and change its orbit. There's a small possibility that if it passes through a particular point in space, the so-called keyhole, ... the Earth's gravity will change things so that when it comes back around again in 2036, it will collide with us." The chance of Apophis passing through the keyhole, a 600-metre patch of space, is 1 in 5,500 based on current information.

There are no shortage of ideas on how to deflect asteroids. The Advanced Concepts Team at the European Space Agency have led the effort in designing a range of satellites and rockets to nudge asteroids on a collision course for Earth into a different orbit.

No technology has been left unconsidered, even potentially dangerous ideas such as nuclear powered spacecraft. "The advantage of nuclear propulsion is a lot of power," said Prof Fitzsimmons. "The negative thing is that ... we haven't done it yet. Whereas with solar electric propulsion, there are several spacecraft now that do use this technology so we're fairly confident it would work."

The favoured method is also potentially the easiest - throwing a spacecraft at an asteroid to change its direction. Esa plans to test this idea with its Don Quixote mission, where two satellites will be sent to an asteroid. One of them, Hidalgo, will collide with the asteroid at high speed while the other, Sancho, will measure the change in the object's orbit. Decisions on the actual design of these probes will be made in the coming months, with launch expected some time in the next decade. One idea that seems to have no support from astronomers is the use of explosives.

Prof Fitzsimmons. "If you explode too close to impact, perhaps you'll get hit by several fragments rather than one, so you spread out the area of damage."

In September, scientists at Strathclyde and Glasgow universities began computer simulations to work out the feasibility of changing the directions of asteroids on a collision course for Earth. In spring next year, there will be another opportunity for radar observations of Apophis that will help astronomers work out possible future orbits of the asteroid more accurately.

If, at that stage, they cannot rule out an impact with Earth in 2036, the next chance to make better observations will not be until 2013. Nasa has argued that a final decision on what to do about Apophis will have to be made at that stage.

"It may be a decision in 2013 whether or not to go ahead with a full-blown mitigation mission, but we need to start planning it before 2013," said Prof Fitzsimmons. In 2029, astronomers will know for sure if Apophis will pose a threat in 2036. If the worst-case scenarios turn out to be true and the Earth is not prepared, it will be too late. "If we wait until 2029, it would seem unlikely that you'd be able to do anything about 2036," said Mr Yates.

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Future of Hayabusa Asteroid Probe Looks Bleak

Posted by Hemos on Monday December 12, @10:11AM
from the here's-to-hoping dept.

mj_1903 writes "After landing, then not landing, then potentially landing on an asteroid it appears as though the Japanese spacecraft may have collected specimens of the asteroid. Unfortunately a host of problems is continuing to plague it including a lack of fuel, a shutdown of part of the chemical orientation system, a complete failure of the flywheels and communication issues. The Japanese team are however not giving up on it and are still hopeful that they can return it to the earth in June of 2007."

Japanese asteroid probe apparently broken

posted 10:34am EST Thu Dec 08 2005 - submitted by Joshua

NEWS

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) stated on Wednesday that the Hayabusa probe (see our previous coverage), which was sent to investigate the Itokawa asteroid in May 2003, appears to have run into a snag in its mission. The craft was designed to shoot a 5 gram metal ball into the surface of the asteroid to collect some particles for later delivery to Earth. JAXA reports that, despite earlier reports that the ball had been shot and samples collected, the latest data appears to show that that has not happened.

Currently there is a "high possibility" that the sample collection has not been completed, but JAXA's scientists are working hard to remedy the situation.

The mission is not a complete waste even if the samples are not sent back to Earth for study, however, as Hayabusa successfully landed on a Itokawa and has sent back images and other useful data.

Find out more at Reuters and on the Hayabusa project page.

JOSHUA'S OPINION
Japan has been battling for a higher spot in the space race for many years, and Hayabusa was said to be the up-and-coming star of the show. If the probe actually does succeed in collecting some asteroid dust and sending it back to Earth, Japan will become the only other space agency besides the U.S. and Russia to bring back pieces of another body in the solar system, and the first to bring back asteroid pieces.

It has to be extremely frustrating to be sitting there in a room looking at readouts from the probe and not knowing what is going on. There is no graphical interface for talking with the asteroid probe on this mission, and I suspect that the engineers are getting antsy about the lack of proper confirmation signals without a concrete idea of what has happened to the probe.

USER COMMENTS

space race (10:37am EST Thu Dec 08 2005)
Why don't the japanese just stick to releasing PS3 and revolution Earlier... - by ~ultima~

Use the Toyota option (10:56am EST Thu Dec 08 2005)
They should have launched a toyota. It is much more reliable. - by RCAman

Send a human! (11:10am EST Thu Dec 08 2005)
This is the argument for space exploration by humans. If a person were on the asteroid, we'd know if the sample was taken. And the best samples would have been taken. Perhaps from various places, after having identified the different kinds of rocks. Humans are much better than robots at exploring.
- by SpaceMan

itd' be nice (11:12am EST Thu Dec 08 2005)
if nasa and jaxa and russia and europe think about making some kind of base near the moon - by x-plattform

Re: Send a human (12:02pm EST Thu Dec 08 2005)
I agree. Problems like this never happen with people on board. And we've got more people than robots so it's much faster and cheaper to just send a person instead.
- by JQP

very difficult problem (12:05pm EST Thu Dec 08 2005)
What they are trying to do is extremely difficult.

Some people will see this as a failure. But think about it. NASA was proud to just collide with an asteroid. The Japanese have actually landed a satellite on an asteroid. That is nothing short of amazing. - by space junkie

All space angency (12:27pm EST Thu Dec 08 2005)
are not planning to build large full scale space station. They thought about building space station on the moon.

If that happens, space truckers will be makin alot of money delivering supplies to the moon from earth. - by Stranger

Asteroids (12:37pm EST Thu Dec 08 2005)
Asteroids and there microgravity are not conducive to a good work environment for humans.
We rely upon the effects of gravity to work.... go ahead and pick up that rock on the asteroid. If you’re lucky you may float back to the surface in about a week. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In an asteroids microgravity that could be very slow or absolutely catastrophic..
this aint Hollywood - by space spore

Re JQP (2:53pm EST Thu Dec 08 2005)
I agree its one of my pet peeves the dumbing down of America or Canada or where ever.
I would guess the twits that write the scripts in Hollywood would require far more intelligence and deep thought than is currently required.
Its also the medias i.e. news services and the selective news coupled with writing the news for a grade 8 audience...
if we don’t start using our brains they will atrophy and evolution will make us stupid in a few generations...it might happen.....

As for NASA they are fueled by buricratic stupidity and the political adgenda of the day ..at the highest levels this cancer exist.
fire the dweebs and let anyone applying for a top possition at NASA requier an IQ greater than there shoe size.
- by space spore

Re: space spore (3:48pm EST Thu Dec 08 2005)
I was skiing in Canada back in '86 when the Challenger blew up. The local coverage was a real eye opener for me. Not disrespectful in any way, actually quite sympathetic. But at the same time, a more realistic and honest assessment of the overall shuttle program than what I was used to from the US media. - by JQP

bureaucratic (6:48pm EST Thu Dec 08 2005)
All older large organizations are bureaucratic including companies. This happens because it is often useful to set up processes and rules to get things done, but it is more difficult, years later, to tear these processes down. Also an infrastructure is built up to support the organizations main goals, but these infrastructures take on a life of their own and are difficult to shrink down. See 'The Peter Principle'.

The way non-monopolistic companies get out of this rut is competition. Young newer companies without the bureaucracies and out-of-date processes can easily out-design and underprice these companies, so the older companies adjust or die. IBM is a good example of a company that has adapted well.

Here is a case where we have global competition. When someone like China lands someone on the moon, maybe this country will wake up.

What helps large companies get out of this rut - by manager

Ignorance (6:59pm EST Thu Dec 08 2005)
Anyone else reading this absolute crap from the geek public?

1st of all, guy who mentioned gravity is partially right, asteroids travel linearly as opposed to comets that orbit. Linear acceleration has no gravitational pull "downwards" towards the "ground". You'll just fly off... HOWEVER, asteroids are alot BIGGER than comets, the mass-mass effect may be big enough to have a gravitational pull, i wouldn't know, not about to run the numbers.

That's the first point, secondly, and more importantly, it's alot cheaper and safer to send robots. It's cheaper because the weight/fuel cost ratio, cost of feeding/training a man ontop of the inherent flaw of man that we're not perfect, not to also mention the fact that robots have obviously more capabilities than humans. When's the last time you shot a 5gm metal ball into the Earth and then collected the particles?

Robots are more precise, more accurate, more capabale in this instance.

- by Treatment X

Hmm (7:58pm EST Thu Dec 08 2005)
Success or failure??? I am leaning towards failure... JAXA has had numerous embarassing failures in the past 5 years and this is just another one to go on that list... Some mentioned how amazing it was that they *almost* pulled of this mission... Well, what about NASA having two robots fully operational on MARS for over a year?? THATS amazing, and THATS something that everyone is taking for granted...

Also, please note that NASA and RUSSIA pioneered every aspect of space flight and space technology. Any other country should be able to copy us with reasonable success. But it hasn't happened that way. For me, the real amazing thing is that even after watching NASA/RUSSIA and now the ESA make all the strides in space exploration for the past half century, no one else seems to be able to build on that success. That speaks to how DIFFICULT it is to do this even when following in someone elses footsteps...

Eventually I am sure the Japanese will figure things out in space and start making real strides instead of bumping into asteroids, but in the mean time, keep your eyes on NASA, despite their shuttle woes theyre still the only show worth watching outside of earth. - by hodar-twin

RE Treatment X (8:18am EST Fri Dec 09 2005)
As far as i know Asteroids are made of rock dust and very little ice, while comets are dirty snow balls. The size and mass is relivent to the amount of gravity any body in space has. There are small asteroids and large asteroids as well as large comets and small comets.
As to the orbitital paths, some do follow normal orbits haowever some do not. its the asteroids that do not follow the orbital path of the other bodies in our solar system that we need to worry about.
Between humans and robots there are reasons to send humans one reason would be the speed of light..if your signal takes several minutes to reach the robot you cant realy oprerate it in real time.
RE JQP
I think the BBC has the best and less dumbed down news of all. Canadian News can be pretty dry and they seem to be dumbing it down lately.

can you - by space spore

human on asteroid (8:57am EST Mon Dec 12 2005)
have any of you thought to consider that not only is the training of an astronaut more exspensive and time consuming, but the fact that we would have to design, build, and test a new spacecraft that could hold X amount of astronauts PLUS the amount of food to get there and back PLUS the amount of fuel to travel there and back. also, I think that many of you have failed to realize that the trip there and back would take over 6 years. the space craft would be bigger than the asteroid!

GO ROBOTS! - by MR. Logical

FROM: http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2005Dec/gee20051208033679.htm

Hopes fade for troubled Japanese asteroid probe

18:23 12 December 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Maggie McKee

Enlarge image

Mission controllers have little hope the spacecraft will make it home because of continuing problems with its thrusters (Image: artist's impression/JAXA)

Asteroid sampling mission probably failed
07 December 2005
Thruster problem may scupper Hayabusa's return to Earth
29 November 2005
Thruster glitch puts asteroid probe in ‘safe mode’
29 November 2005
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Hope that Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft will return to Earth is fading as mission controllers remain unable to regain complete control of its orientation.

The spacecraft was designed to bring the first-ever asteroid samples back to Earth for analysis. But recent data suggest that, during a landing attempt on 26 November, it did not fire metal pellets into the 600-metre-long asteroid Itokawa to draw up material for collection.

Now mission controllers have little hope the spacecraft will be able to get back to Earth - even without its quarry - because of continuing problems with its fuel thrusters.

"The situation is not optimistic," Hayabusa's project manager Jun'ichiro Kawaguchi told New Scientist. The spacecraft was supposed to begin its return journey by mid-December to take advantage of an ideal alignment between the Earth and the asteroid. The next such alignment will not occur for another three years.

Fuel thrusters

The fuel thrusters have been used to point the spacecraft because two of its three stabilising reaction wheels failed in July and October 2005. But after the landing attempt on 26 November, one thruster on the spacecraft's upper panel sprang a leak, forcing the craft into an emergency shutdown of all its non-essential systems.

As mission controllers worked to return the craft to normal operations, other thrusters failed - possibly because their valves got locked shut or because their hydrazine fuel froze.

As a result, ground controllers were not able to accurately orient the spacecraft to ensure its solar panels faced the Sun. Around 1 December, the resulting loss of battery power forced most of the onboard instruments to shut down or restart incompletely.

As an emergency measure to restore power, ground controllers programmed the craft to vent the xenon gas from its ion engines. These engines - which use electric fields to accelerate a beam of ions - were designed to propel the craft on its 2 billion-kilometre round trip to Itokawa.

Tricky feat

Firing the xenon thrusters successfully pointed the craft's solar panels towards the Sun on 5 December - when the least manoeuvring was needed. But it was not an easy feat. Kawaguchi says: "It is not a strong thruster and is very easily subject to disturbance."

According to a recent mission status report, there is enough xenon fuel both to point the spacecraft and return it to Earth. But the ion engines are currently off and it is not clear how healthy the engines are. A plan to reignite them on 14 December will likely be postponed, says Kawaguchi.

"We are in a very tough spot," he told New Scientist. "We are waiting for what we can do next."

The mission has been plagued by problems, including the loss of a robot that was due to hop around and explore the asteroid. Mission members say using commands from both human ground controllers and the spacecraft's autonomous landing protocols sent the robot into space when it was too far away from the

Event Date	Mercury*	Venus*	Mars*	Notes
Previous T 367 Crop Circle Analysis@	192	81	311	Not Attempted
09/01/2033	192	80	316	08/28 - 09/01
03/15/2039	190	81	293	03/14 - 03/17
05/06/2101	192	84	309	Not Calculated
This T 367 Crop Circle Analysis#	163.0+/-10	51.0+/-17	276	.0+/-12
02/25/2007#	165.8	46.5	275.4


The Reconstruction - made on June 21, 2006, at Dörnberg, near Kassel in Hessen, Germany Photo: Eckhard Weber Editors note: The loop comes much closer to the orbit previous laid such in 1999.	The Original - discovered on June 26, 1999, at Martinhagen in Hessen, Germany. Photo: Frank Laumen Thanks: Eckhard Weber, FGK, Frank Laumen, NASA Copyright: Andreas Müller, 27.06.2006


Longwood, UK 1995	Longwood, UK 1995- drawing